Inner Fire
by NinjaNovelist
Summary: As Zuko's daughter Ursa struggles with her firebending training, she makes an interesting discovery.
1. Chapter 1

**My first Avatar fic! So this story takes place after ATLA, and Zuko has two kids, Ursa and Iroh (this is not the Iroh in LOK; that is Zuko's GRANDSON). Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I WISH I was as dang brilliant as Mike and Bryan to be capable of creating something like Avatar. But I'm not.**

The tense silence just before battle never fails to unsettle Ursa. She always hated the excruciatingly long moment of pretend peace whilst staring straight into the unforgiving eye of your enemy, the two of you waiting to see who dares to make the first move.

But Ursa had never been a daring person.

The coal color of her eyes are set aflame as a fireball brighter than the sun is hurled towards her. Ursa is quick to deflect it, but not without the sheer power of the move taking her back a few steps. She pauses briefly to put her focus aright, only to find she has nothing to focus on. Where was her opponent?

It's just at that moment when Ursa feels a sudden sensation of warmth on her back. She barely makes it halfway around when a rope of fire loops around to her feet, knocking her to the ground. Hard.

Once the quick bout of dizziness faded, Ursa moves to get up again. However, she is impeded by a fist pointed directly into her face.

And now the foes are back to where they started, each looking into the face of the other. Then Ursa's adversary smiles, offering a hand to help her up.

"Sorry about that, sis," the boy says once she's back on her feet. "It was just such a perfect opening to fit in a Flaming Snake. I couldn't help myself."

"You can _never _help yourself, Iroh," his twin replies. While she manages to keep her tone serious, her eyes dance with mirth.

"Well done, Prince Iroh," an elderly man commends as he approaches the two eleven-year-olds. "With such perfect form, it will only be a matter of time before you join the great legacy of your family."

But as he turns to Ursa, his smile disappears. "As for you, Princess Ursa," he says gravely. "Your technique leaves _much _to be desired."

On most occasions, the two siblings are taught firebending by Zuko. But during the times when the Fire Lord is too preoccupied with work, Sifu Wei Zhu takes his place. The mere fact that the teacher was not her father would've made Ursa dislike him. His cold, harsh attitude towards her certainly helped, though.

"You are free to go, Prince Iroh," the aforementioned crab stated. "But you, Princess, must perform fifty hot squats in order to improve your stance. A fire hawk has better footing than you."

"Yes Sifu," Ursa answers wearily.

Iroh gives his sister an apologetic glance before darting out of the room.

Ursa begins the exercises, one eye trained on the retreating master. But the moment his billowing robes vanish through the curtain, she defiantly sinks to the floor and folds her legs into a meditating position. A few hot squats weren't going to magically give her the talent she sorely lacked.

Ursa had never understood how Iroh managed to steal all the natural ability, leaving his twin hardly able to be defined a bender. It's as if the two were born to be complete opposites.

Iroh is outgoing, passionate, and lively. Ursa is timid, stoic, and reserved. Iroh, though not nearly as prone to anger as him, takes after their father. Ursa, though not emotionless to the same degree as her, is more similar to their mother. Iroh is the beloved prince to all who met him. Ursa, no one knows quite what to think of.

Their father always joke how the twins are like Yin and Yang, complementing one another perfectly. And it's certainly true, for they love each other greatly, but at times Ursa can't help but feel slightly jealous of Iroh receiving all the positive attributes.

Speaking of whom, what was that move he had been talking about... the Flaming Snake? Yes, that was it. She had caught a glimpse of its form just before she was hit by it. Maybe she could give it a try.

The Fire Princess began working so hard to imitate her brother, she didn't even notice a middle-aged, scar-faced man enter the arena.

Zuko quietly observes his daughter from a distance as she continually tries and fails to get the moves right.

Zuko hates to admit it, but the way his son is able to learn with such ease reminds him of the boy's aunt, Azula. Meanwhile, Zuko sees himself in Ursa's struggles as well as in her determination to catch up with her brother. Although Zuko believes that overall Iroh is more like him of the two, in some ways Ursa is more similar.

An ear-splitting cry suddenly shoots through Zuko's thoughts. He looks up just in time to see his daughter crumble to the ground, clutching her right leg.

"Ursa!" the father cries as he rushed to her side.

The girl turns her head up weakly, attempting to hide her grimace of pain. "Dad?"

"Yes, I'm here," Zuko says soothingly. The girl lets her head fall on her father's shoulder. "What happened?"

"I lost control of my bending, and it whipped around and got the back of my knee."

Zuko inspects the injury and finds the area not in very good condition. "We need to get you to the infirmary."

He tries helping Ursa up, but she can barely move her leg without yelping from the pain. So in the end Zuko picks her up, as though she were two years old again, and carries his little girl to the door.

Just before leaving, Zuko takes one last glance around the Agni Kai Hall.

Does this place do anything besides leaving scars?

**This is going to be a three-shot, and I'm trying to get these chapters out quickly. Part Two should be up either tomorrow or the day after.**

**On an unrelated note, who's stoked for the LOK season finale? I know I am! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wasn't the LOK finale AMAZING? I'm still freaking out over it all. Ugh, so many emotions packed into one hour... okay, crazy fangirl screaming is over.**

**Enjoy!**

Zuko watches the Palace Physician bow out before turning to his daughter and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"What did he say?" Ursa asks.

Zuko considers saying that she would be just fine, but he knows that neither of them would believe the words.

"It's a very serious injury, Ursa," he explains. "The doctor doesn't know if... if it will ever completely heal."

He falls silent as Ursa processes this new information.

"So I may never be able to walk properly again?"

"Katara and her family will be visiting in a few days," Zuko says, quick to offer any kind of comfort. "She can do things with her healing most people can't even dream of."

At these words, Zuko subconsciously places a hand on his abdomen. Even with every effort exerted by his waterbending friend, a nasty mark from a certain lightning incident still remains.

"But your leg may not look the same from now on."

To Zuko's surprise, Ursa begins to laugh. Then he catches the hint of bitterness in her voice. "Typical."

"What do you mean?" her father asks.

"Iroh tries out every insane move he can get his hands on," she says. "But the first time I try a simple form, I end up stuck with the scar for life."

Zuko raises his single eyebrow at the girl. "What's so bad about scars?"

This jibe sets Ursa back for a moment, but anger soon propels her forward again.

"It's just not fair! We're the same age, yet Iroh is so much further ahead of me in his training. I don't even know why the Spirits bothered giving me bending in the first place."

_It could be worse,_ Zuko thinks. _Your sibling could be __**two years younger **__than you, sent out by your father to track you and your uncle down to lock you away forever. _But he decided against bringing this up.

"Have I ever told you of the time Aang and I faced two dragons?" he asks.

"Of course," his daughter replies. "That was one of our favorite bedtime stories when we were little."

"Then you should remember what we learned about firebending," Zuko says. "How it's not just death and destruction, but life and energy."

"That's just it!" Ursa cries. "Iroh's the one who's full of life; that's why bending comes so easily to him. But I'm not like that. I'm the one who hides in the corner of the classroom to avoid talking, who would rather read than play games, who's too timid to be any real threat. I _have_ no energy."

"Not necessarily," Zuko tells her. "Sometimes it can be found in your purpose: what you're striving for. If you can figure out your goal in life, then your bending can help you to achieve it, and that's when energy will come to play its part."

Ursa falls silent in order to ponder on this advice, but she is soon interrupted by a voice coming from the doorway.

"I thought you were the twin who _didn't _get herself into trouble."

Both father and daughter look up as Mai enters the room, sitting beside her husband on the bed.

Ursa learned over the years to detect the tiniest indications of emotion that enters her mother's otherwise blank expression. For instance, the thin line that her mouth is drawn out to at the moment tells Ursa that she's resisting the urge to smile.

"Where's Iroh?" Ursa asks. Despite her envy of his abilities, she still wants to see him.

"He crashed as soon as he got back from a game of Hide-and-Exlode with his friends," her mother says, rolling her eyes ever so slightly. "He didn't even give me a chance to tell him about what happened to you, but I'm sure he'll make up for it by never leaving your side for all of tomorrow."

Then Mai pulls a few items from the eternal depths of her robes and sets them on Ursa's bedside table.

"I grabbed a couple of your favorite books from the library," she explains. "And I know I don't normally allow it, but here's a candlestick to read by. Just promise you'll use it responsibly, unlike someone _else _I know."

She turns her head to face Zuko at this point, who responds by grinning in the sheepish way that only Mai could procure.

"Apparently I was flailing my arms once in my sleep," he explains to Ursa.

"Singeing half of our room, and my hair, in the process," Mai finishes.

She leans over and tucks a hair that had strayed from her daughter's small side braid behind her ear. "Sleep well, Ursa."

Mai was not the most outwardly affectionate mother, but Ursa knew what she meant.

Then once Zuko kisses her forehead goodnight, the two parents rise and leave the room.

For a time, Ursa occupies herself with the books her mother gave her. But after she loses interest, she finds herself playing with the candle.

The flickering yellow flame is strangely mesmerizing to Ursa. She watches with utter fascination as her hand causes it to grow and change to a vibrant orange, then allows it to sink back to its original form.

It's funny how until this point, she had never taken a really look at something that was such a large part of her identity. She was always so focused on trying to put it to good use in battle that she had never taken the time to appreciate its beauty.

For some odd reason, Ursa's attention becomes drawn towards the spot just above the flame. She realizes with a jolt that the air occupying that space was _moving._

There was no wind blowing into the room, and the only two airbenders in existence wouldn't be arriving for days. Then how is this possible?

Upon further scrutiny, Ursa discovers that the air is emanating from the fire, completely of its own accord. It's not bending...

It's energy.

Ursa releases the breath that had caught in her throat at the revelation, snuffing out the flame. But the one inside her mind already ignited, an insane idea that begins to flare up and grow as it warms her entire being from within.

**Please tell me that some of you have noticed this. The idea has been in my head for years, so I'm kinda hoping that I'm not completely crazy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, so much for getting this out quickly. Sorry about that. Well anyways, here's the last chapter for ya!**

Ursa yet again finds herself face-to-face with her brother, each on opposing ends of the arena. Their parents spectate from the sidelines as the two begin their usual habit of staring at each other, waiting for the impending battle to commence.

It comes as a great surprise to all when Ursa is the one who fires first.

She expected Iroh to counter it with his own attack, so she is prepared. She flicks her formerly injured foot up as high as she can, forming a protective dome of fire around herself as she turns and ends in a crouch.

Her father did not exaggerate Katara's healing capabilities. Within eight weeks Ursa had regained full mobility of her right leg. There is still a large scar wrapped around her knee, but now she displays it with pride. It was because of it that she had discovered her new ability in the first place.

As the fire dome fades away, Ursa glances out of the corner of her eye to see her twin in a full charge right towards her. His target waits until the last possible moment to roll out of the way, but Iroh carries through like a komodo rhino being taunted by a red cape. And, just like the animal, the boy soon doubles back twice as riled up as before.

The duel that ensues could have been moments, minutes, months for all they knew. Multiple Avatar lifetimes could have passed before their eyes, and the two would never have been the wiser.

Iroh does most of the attacking, but Ursa manages to smoothly sidestep and evade every one of his strikes. Not without much difficulty, though; there are several occasions where Iroh would nearly outmaneuver her, and she would barely avoid losing it all. Ursa can feel her pulse throbbing throughout her whole body, but she knows that she needs to bide her time and wait for her chance.

That chance comes just after Iroh begins to gain the upper hand. He had faked left, then quickly sent a burst of flame to his right, forcing Ursa to skid back several feet. But as Iroh walks forward to deliver the final blow, she sees the tiniest window of opportunity.

Jumping to her feet, Ursa finally releases the firebending form that took her months to perfect.

A beautifully executed Flaming Snake wraps around Iroh's unsuspecting waist, lifting him off of the ground. However, not so much as a lick of fire is touching his body.

It all goes back to when Ursa discovered air pulsating above the candle. She worked tirelessly to achieve something she wasn't even sure could be done. But finally, she found a way to make her fire push against the energy, which in turn pushes against the culprit, thus allowing Iroh to be picked up and moved without being harmed in the process.

That is until Ursa slams him into the ground. They're still siblings, and years' worth of payback was long overdue.

Ursa is quick to cover her brother in a fiery blanket, restraining him from making the slightest movement.

It's fitting that her discovery enables her to use her bending without having to harm her opponent. She sees the effects of fire at it's worst whenever she looks into her father's face, not to mention experienced them firsthand herself.

That's where part of her drive comes in: her desire to make a difference. Although years have passed since the end of The Great War, the world has yet to fully recover from a century of terror caused by her forefathers. Ursa wishes desperately to follow in her father's footsteps and one day show that fire can not only harm, but heal as well.

Suddenly Ursa finds herself, for the first time in her life, on the other end of the battle's outcome, in which she is the one offering a hand to Iroh. But she's quickly taken aback when as she lifts him up, he continues the forward momentum by pulling her into a warm embrace.

"I knew you could do it, sis," Iroh says.

As Zuko and Mai move to join their children, Ursa is reminded of the other, slightly more selfish half of her drive: her undying thirst to prove herself, to prove that she's every bit as good as her brother, to prove that she is a force to be reckoned with.

And years from now, when Ursa succeeds her father as Fire Lord after he steps down, and Iroh becomes general of the United Forces (a path his son will one day take as well), she will look back upon this day and smile. For it was not when she received her crown, but when she defeated her twin in a petty little training match, that she achieved just that.

**Once again I must state that I am not entirely sure if this makes sense. But my reasoning is that if the Avatar Universe can have dudes blowing stuff up with their minds, then this is a possibility, too. Thanks for reading! **


End file.
